I guess after the Gauntlet story line concludes we are going to finally be told what happened at Peter and Mary Jane's wedding. I must admit that now that I've read most of the trades from Brand New Day (I'm waiting for Crime and Punishment and American Son from the library) and while I'm still not going to buy any Spider-Man due to One More day the stories have intrigued me. I'm still interested to see what kind of role Peter will have in Norman's eventual downfall at the end of Dark Reign and the Siege.

It's early but so far DC's recent announcements have me way more excited for their material than Marvel, Earth One alone has me salivating as some of you know from my posts in that thread. Second Coming in the X-Men books is intriguing (just because of the rampant Jean Grey return rumors and her being tied in to Hope Summers).

I don't quite know what to make of this Year of Spider-Man thing they have. I think it's more of the same - they have established the new status quo - single Spidey, plenty of action and so on already. Now they can execute and deliver on all the stories that they thought they couldn't do cos he was married. Why would it be any different?

Maybe the only other thing that could happen is that towards the end of 2010, Spidey will again go steady with MJ.

Coming to your question about DC vs. Marvel - I confess that I'm feeling more interested in some of Marvel's items - specifically The Siege and also the two Captain Americas. I am not too sure of what to make of DC's stuff - I really don't care about Earth One - I guess until I see what they plan to deliver. I am not interested in New Krypton. I am interested in the Return of Bruce Wayne but I just don't see how there can be a Bruce Wayne and somebody else (however good he is) being Batman. Maybe two Batmans? Also with Blackest Night winding down, things will become kinda open on the GL front.

I had a brief Spider-Man phase when JMS took over the title, but shortly after issue #50 (whatever the renumbering was), I got bored with the title and gave it up (a good bit before the whole Gwen/Norman thing, so I guess I had good timing). The bits I've seen of the "Brand New Day" stories haven't made me want to get the character. I know the original thought was "Geeky protagnoist means the reader can identify with them," but I think that's why I like Hal Jordan so much. I didn't want to identify with the geek who got powers, I wanted to pretend I was the macho guy who got powers.

I do have to laugh when companies declare "The Year Of..." because more times than not, it's the other characters in the company's stable who shine during the year, not the one the company picked. DC's tried several "Year of Superman" campaigns, but other characters, such as Green Lantern, Flash, etc. have always come out with better stuff and generated more interest.

{Edit - shivkala, the way Geoff Johns writes him, Hal can be a bit of a jerk (imo) . But I think he has one of the coolest costumes too and both Ethan Van Sciver and also Alex Ross do very good covers of him. }

This got me wondering - what are the major stories that are supposed to happen in 2010?

Superman - Something about the battle of the supermen and more New Krypton stuff, I think.
Batman - More of Dick being Batman and also the Return of Bruce Wayne
WW - Not Sure. But it's going to go back to the old numbering and have a 600th issue.
GL - What happens after Blackest Night which is already drawing to a close?

Marvel
Spider-Man - Year of Spider-Man and also maybe some stuff with Stormin' Norman!
X-Men - More Dark Reign stuff?
Avengers - Siege and The Fall of Norman Osborn
Captain America - Two Caps with both Bucky and Steve Rogers
Iron Man - This Legacies thing showcasing stories from different Iron Man eras

Iron Man is doing a "reconstructing Tony Stark" thing since he basically wiped his own mind out although we all know enough of Tony to know he's always got some technical dohickey that'll give him his brain back once Osborn is off his ass.

I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the Avengers resort themselves. I honestly hated having 3 Avengers titles. I still think while Steve Rogers will be Cap, I would love to see him sort of take a shield to Norman's face and be made head of the new SHIELD and the return of Nick Fury in some capacity.

I had completely forgotten about the Messiah storyline. I think I read one of the trades for that and I kinda found it intriguing. I thought at that time that Bishop actually was making the events that he wants to prevent happen by pursuing his goals so ruthlessly - in a way creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of things.

There's another section of the puzzle revealed with the Lizard featured. Yes Bendis has spoken in the past and recently that everything he has been working towards is leading to restoring the Marvel Universe and starting a new Golden Age.

a quick summary of DC's announced projects for 2010

-Dick as Batman for a continued undisclosed amount of time along with the Return of Bruce Wayne Mini-Series and a new status quo established by the end of the year.

-Superman and Batman Earth One graphic novel series
-Conclusion of Blackest Night (including post BN plans yet to be revealed)
-a new Flash ongoing written by Geoff Johns featuring Barry Allen
- Wonder Woman getting a 600th issue
-DC Legacies and new Who's Who series

Marvel known projects (that i'm aware of, feel free to add addtional info)
-The Year of Spider-Man
-Seige, the fall of Norman Osborn
-Avengers Reassembled (my own title for the return of the Avengers)
-Two Caps
-X-Men: Second Coming

Personally I don't think we're going to get a reunion between Peter and Mary Jane, I like Peter and Felicia together even though they aren't a very functional couple outside of their costumes. I think MJ will be returned into Peter's cast of characters though after they explain what happend at their wedding. I am curious if Joe Q would even consider rescinding Mephisto's deal? Or if a writer or the Spider team suggested a good enough story he would nix it. I think not.

Pete/MJ will be reversed when a fan who grew up with the marriage-as-fact takes over and 'reveals' that the Mephisto Spidey dealt with was a friendlier being trying to keep Peter away from the real demon deal, since he was so vulnerable.

With Spidey, I'm inclined to think that we'll see the formation of a new love triangle between MJ, Peter, and Carly Cooper...

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God help Carly Cooper then, because MJ has decades of character development, one bad plot aching to be reversed, and massive cross-media exposure. Carly Cooper has ... well, a lack of those things.

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Sort of like how MJ was just "that flighty girl" when Gwen Stacey was around...

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No denying that Cooper could become more interesting over time, but the situations are different.

Gwen was introduced in December 1965, MJ in November 1966 (although she was mentioned before her first full appearance). So Gwen didn't have "decades" on MJ, but MJ has forty years on Cooper.

MJ benefitted directly from the era's big controversial plot; the "Death of Gwen Stacy" caused MJ to grow in a relatively natural way. Cooper was one of a dozen characters dropped into the Spidey universe all at once after OMD, and has thus far not been a break-out character. arguably, none of the new characters have been break-out.

What I meant by cross-media exposure was the three films, manga versions of the Spider-man story, video game appearances, etc. When Wizard reported on the image we're talking about, they thought Parker was kissing MJ -Carly wasn't mentioned. That's how ingrained MJ is. That's all I was getting at. If Marvel wants Carly Cooper to be Spider-man's main squeeze, they have their work cut out for them.

The full puzzle has now been revealed featuring Mary Jane in a wedding dress with her arm outstretched towards Peter who is in costume holding his mask facing her...interesting. www.comicbookresources.com has the full piece. It will make for nice wall paper if anything else.